Chamber and committees

The assessment criteria for the £30 million Scottish Stations Fund, which aims to lever in third party funding to provide new and improved stations, covers both rural and urban communities.

All proposals for stations should firstly be directed to the relevant Regional Transport Partnership (RTP) to assess how it fits with their local and regional transport strategies. If appropriate, the RTP will undertake an appraisal to determine the most suitable transport options for the area. The scope and level of detail required in the appraisal is determined by the nature and scale of the transport problems and the impacts of the potential transport options in a particular area.

Transport Scotland officials are always available to offer advice and guidance on the proportionate application of Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance, if requested.

Funding has already been approved through the Stations Fund for improvements at both urban and rural stations benefiting passengers using ScotRail and Caledonian Sleeper services.

We will only know the true cost per mile of the A9 once we have taken it to the market, however our current estimates are in the region of £19million per mile, rising to £37million per mile once risk, optimism bias and inflation are included. This produces a £3billion overall estimate (80 miles x £37million). However, this can only be an approximate estimate at this stage in the process.

The Scottish Government has considered opportunities to provide services between Carlisle and Glasgow/Edinburgh but found that a ScotRail service could not be supported due to the cost of providing this service, the capacity constraints on the route for additional train services and the anticipated level of patronage. However, the Scottish Government is committed to improving connectivity to promote sustainable economic growth and is willing to review the proposal should circumstances change.

Through the £212 million investment in the replacement Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary, NHS Dumfries and Galloway will discharge the conditions associated with the planning consent for the new hospital, including required improvements to a major trunk road roundabout and road realignments to allowances to the hospital.

Further planning conditions have stipulated that improvements are made to some other existing parts of the road network to accommodate traffic impacts of the new hospital and agreement has been reached that a commuted sum of £220k from the health board for these works would be vested in Dumfries and Galloway Council to allow these works to be completed.

Going Further- Scotland’s Accessible Travel Framework was published on 21 September 2016. Accessibility issues in urban and rural areas will be an important focus of work through the 10 year lifetime of the Framework.

The Scottish Government is investing in significant access improvements through Abellio ScotRail who have begun major refurbishment of trains operating on rural routes. Access improvements are also being delivered at stations across the country, and all new stations such as those opened on the Borders Railway are step free and fully accessible. Abellio ScotRail are required to provide a range of services dedicated to assisting disabled passengers to facilitate their travel.

The timetable for all single decker buses to be fully accessible was 1 January 2016, with double decker’s due by 1 January 2017 and coaches by 1 January 2020. Until these dates, fleet renewal and deployment is a discretionary operational matter for individual operators. Disability legislation is reserved to the UK Parliament, however the Scottish Government is committed to encouraging bus operators to meet these regulations within the timetable.

Transport Scotland will lead a multi modal study assessing transport constraints and opportunities in the Borders, including examining the case for extending the railway. Procurement of the study is currently under way, funding will come from existing budgets and it is currently expected that the study will be complete by the end of 2017. As this work is at an early scoping stage it is not currently possible to estimate costs or timescales.

Transport Scotland’s Road Asset Management Plan (RAMP) sets out how our trunk road network is maintained safely, strategically and efficiently to protect our assets and ensure maximum value for money from our road maintenance activities. The RAMP can be accessed at: http://www.transport.gov.scot/road/maintenance/road-asset-management-plan

Trunk road defects are repaired in accordance with the timescales specified in the Operating Company contracts. These can be accessed at: http://www.transport.gov.scot/road/maintenance/operating-companies .

The Scottish Government has had discussions with the UK Government regarding the Scottish Minister’s aspirations in relation to the specification of cross-border rail franchises, including the Inter City East Coast, Inter City West Coast, TransPennine Express and CrossCountry Franchises.

Additionally, Transport Scotland officials engage directly with cross-border train operating companies to ensure that Scotland’s interests continue to be met over the course of the Franchise.

Most recently, in response to UK Government’s consultation on the future of the Inter City West Coast franchise, the Scottish Government made clear the aspiration for safe, fast, frequent, reliable, punctual services connecting Scotland to London and intermediate locations, with on-board facilities and fares that attract and retain passengers, underpinned by the strategic aims including enhanced connectivity between the main centres of business on each side of the Border served by this route for the mutual benefit of the Scottish and UK economy, and to maintain and if possible, improve the connectivity for intermediate communities, especially those where connectivity has worsened as a consequence of previous timetable changes.

The Scottish Government has regular ongoing engagement with local authorities and Regional Transport Partnerships (RTPs) through a range of fora, including the Association of Transport Coordinating Officers (ATCO), RTP lead officer and chairs meetings and the Bus Stakeholder Group.

Local authorities work together on bus services informally and through formal channels such as ATCO and their RTP's.

The RTPs work together and with key stakeholders in the bus industry on issues of mutual interest. In particular, these RTPs with public transport responsibilities share good practice, for example, in the procurement of bus services; and the RTPs played a key role in the development of smart, multi-operator ticketing in Aberdeen (Grasshopper), Dundee (ABC), Strathclyde (Zone-card) and Sestran (One-ticket).

The Scottish Government recognises that Lockerbie provides a key rail hub, with links both north and south, and therefore aims to protect and enhance the number of stopping services at Lockerbie Station. Lockerbie station is served predominantly by First TransPennine Express services, with additional Virgin Trains services.

(a) First TransPennine Express (TPE): Following meetings between Transport Scotland officials and First Group in 2015, our proposals for greater connectivity for Lockerbie [and Motherwell] have been addressed, and the new franchise will deliver additional early morning/late evening services between Lockerbie and Edinburgh/Glasgow to facilitate commuting and recreational opportunities from 2017. Additionally, TPE has responded to our concerns by, for instance, calling at Carstairs so as to allow Lockerbie commuters to connect with ScotRail’s Edinburgh-bound services.

(b) Virgin West Coast: The Scottish Government’s response to the recent Inter City West Coast refranchising consultation, made clear that there ought to be a focus by Train Operating Companies on working with others to deliver improvements at stations, including Lockerbie, with measures to increase connectivity and attractiveness particularly welcome.

(c) ScotRail: Lockerbie station is managed by ScotRail but their services do not call at the station.